Occupy Albany Protesters Settling In

Occupy Albany protesters settled in to their fourth day of protesting at Academy Park across the street from the Capitol building on Monday, Gannett’s Aaron Scholder reports.

Tents were strewn across the park as protesters showed they were there for the long haul. A makeshift kitchen and commissary have been set up in the city-run park where protesters thus far have been able to stay past an 11 p.m. curfew.

The protesters are now staying on the city-owned portion of the park, not the state-owned piece, leaving it in city’s purview to remove them if the city wanted to.

Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said this morning that the state would enforce an 11 p.m. curfew on the state-owned portion of the park.

The protest has so far been peaceful other than a minor scuffle that happened on Saturday night between a passer-by and a group of protesters. No one was charged in the incident.

“We’ve tried everything else. We’ve tried the electoral process, we’ve tried protests in Washington and New York City but I think at a local level it’s really important to be out here,” said Trudy Quaif, 58, of Delmar. “It’s really the only peaceful option left.”

Quaif said she plans to come out for a few hours everyday so long as the protest was still going on.

The protesters were starting to become more organized in their operations. A board was set up detailing the day’s events as well as an information desk about the protest’s legal team. Periodically, a protester would announce to the park when and where a meeting was about to begin.

“I think the most important thing that we’re doing is just drawing attention to the fact that there are way more of us than there are of them,” said Kat Broadus, 24, of Albany. “We are totally 100 percent willing to fight for our piece of the pie.”

Broadus said one of the group’s core goals is to end corporate influence on political campaigns while increasing the public’s contribution. They are also pushing for Cuomo to continue higher income taxes on the wealthy that are set to expire at year’s end.

“We need to stop the economic drain on our country and bring the war dollars home,” said John Amidon, 63, of Albany, a military veteran who served four years in the Marines. “We need to create life-affirming work here. Put people back to work in this country and create an infrastructure that supports our future.”

The group has started to organize events meant to draw attention to the cause, which is being held in solidarity with movements that have sprouted up in major cities around the country.

The protesters are planning a short march to the Capitol building on Tuesday to voice their displeasure with state government and Cuomo.

“We’re not just a bunch of radical hippies running around smoking pot. That’s not what it is out here at all,” said Eric Egnor, 42, of Albany, who was recently fired from his job at a Top-Flite golf ball factory. “There’s money out there, this country’s not bankrupt. But the one percent control almost 50 percent of the economy, it’s like how is that possible?”